The Kings found a way to lose another tough game tonight, this time losing to Phoenix at home 2-0. The game-winning goal belonged to Martin Hanzal who swatted home a power play goal in the second period. The catch with this goal was that it came off a disputed high-stick. The play went to review and stayed there for five minutes while officials in Toronto looked at the replay to see if Hanzal knocked the puck into the net with a high stick.

To the naked eyes, even those on an angle, it appeared that the 6’5″ 220 pound forward swung his stick on the deflected puck too high above the crossbar to put home the loose puck. The officials on the ice called it a goal and when it was sent to the instant replay war room in Toronto, it was on them to prove that it wasn’t knocked down and into the net with a high stick. (Video)

The replay angles weren’t able to prove the initial call wrong and Hanzal got his 10th goal of the year. The Coyotes went on to win the game 2-0 and after the game, Lombardi was not pleased at all with the call.

“When the guy in Toronto making the decisions on the goals, in Ottawa and the one tonight, wanted the G.M.’s job in L.A. and was not happy about not getting it, you have to assume you are going to get those type of calls,” Lombardi said. “However, we have put ourselves in a position where these calls have a monumental effect on our season, and we’re going to have to find a way out of it ourselves.”

Lombardi’s reference to Ottawa was to the Kings’ Nov. 22 game against the Senators in Ottawa, in which on-ice officials waved off Ryan Smyth’s potential game-tying goal, with three seconds remaining in the third period, and the video-review crew in Toronto did not rule it a good goal.

Dean Lombardi is generally one of the most even-keeled guys in the NHL, but with the Kings struggling, having a blowup like this isn’t exactly surprising. Still, expect the NHL to have some words for Lombardi and even a fine for snapping off. We keep thinking that something is going to happen in L.A. with the team sliding away into irrelevance and perhaps this is the kind of game that makes it happen.

Yesterday we told you about Panthers GM Dale Tallon’s big ideas to implement an instant replay challenge system in the NHL and it’s getting some talk thanks to some recently iffy situations where replay wasn’t allowed. It’s also coming up because NHL general managers are set to meet up next week to discuss the hot-button issues going on right now in the league and replay is near the top of the list. Also getting looked at will be how the new blindside hit rule is being implemented as well.

Also expected to be a key agenda item: supplemental discipline, the process, the gamesmanship some GMs use to defend their player or encourage discipline against opposing players.

Confrontation in pre-game warmups is an issue that NHL Senior VP and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell loathes, and this topic will once again be tabled for discussion as the league considers options of how to better police the matter.

Having a referee on the ice during warm-ups never hurts, really, but if they’re going to try to put an end to just smack talking in warm-ups that’s a huge buzzkill. Save that kind of fun-killing nonsense for the NFL or college football. As long as you don’t have a 20-on-20 on-ice brawl in warm-ups like a scene out of “Slap Shot,” I think the NHL is doing just fine letting the yappers do their yapping before the game starts. It’s not as if they’re inciting a riot and as much as the NHL would like to pretend it doesn’t happen, talking crap at each other is definitely part of the game.

As for addressing the headshot and blindside hit rules, you have to expect that hits like Shane Doan’s big hit on Dan Sexton, Joe Thornton’s out of the penalty box hit on David Perron, and Dan Carcillo’s elbow-leading hit on Ruslan Fedotenko are going to get a lot of video play to discuss how well (or not) the new rule is working. It’s too early to tell what kind of effect the rule has, but checking in on progress is for the best.

Ever wonder what it’d be like if instant replays in the NHL could be treated the same way they are in the NFL? Say there’s an instance where a coach feels a goal was scored by a high stick that the officials missed and the coach wanted them to replay it, would you want the coach to have the option of challenging the play? TSN’s Darren Dreger conducted a poll of 21 NHL coaches to find out what they think of the idea and the results may surprise you.

14 coaches who were asked, “Would you support a coaches challenge for certain plays, like goalie interference?” said it’s time that a coach’s challenge is introduced, but not without significant limits.

One coach who voted in favour says it would have to be limited to perhaps one challenge per team and would have to include a deterrent, such as a forfeiture of a timeout, or a two minute penalty if the team loses the challenge.

Seven coaches voted against introducing a coach’s challenge rule, saying they would prefer to leave the game and element of human error as is.

A coach who voted “no” bluntly called for better officiating, while another “no” voter predicts teams would manipulate the situation, perhaps faking an injury to buy time to check video before issuing challenges.

The key to implementing something like this in the future is to make sure that coaches can’t abuse the system. Limiting it to one challenge per game and offering a deterrent like a minor penalty for delay of game should do the trick to make it work. Is there really a desperate need to have such a system, is the real question. My thought on this is that, no, there really isn’t.

While fans and Panthers coach Pete DeBoer are upset about Colton Orr steamrolling Florida goalie Scott Clemmensen on his way to scoring a goal the other night, that’s the kind of situation that isn’t reviewable under any circumstances and it’s more of a clearer example that on-ice officiating just needs to be better, period. Goalie interference calls are ones where officials are either too eager to protect the goalie or allow the goalie to be run over and there’s very little in the way of consistency to it.

That said, replay is used in so few instances in the NHL, adding a coaches challenge doesn’t do much to help things along. It’s a nice idea and could be used, but how much it would be put to use is debatable.